DOWN THE ROAD

“That was such a great game.” Jon said.

“Josh and Dan were great.” Curtis said.

“They were all great.” Kaye Leigh said.

“Kaye Leigh I’m going to ride home with Jeff.” Curtis said. Kaye Leigh looked at him.

“Whatever just give me my keys.” She snapped.

“Kaye Leigh don’t ask me to choose sides.” He said.

“Did I say you had too? What about you Becki?” she said.

“I don’t want to leave you alone.” Becki said.

“I know my way home.” She told her.

“Fine, I really rather be with someone more pleasant at the moment.” Becki snapped.

“You can all live with Jeff as far as I am concerned.” She said picking up her chair and heading towards her truck.

“Sorry about that guys.” Jeff said.

“She’ll get over it and be fine, I’m sure it’s because she really wants to be with you.” Jon said. Jeff laughed.

“I don’t think that’s it.” He said.

Jon went to walk with Kaye Leigh.

“Kaye Leigh, I know that you’re in a lot of pain right now, but you can’t take it out on Curtis and Becki because they want to associate with Jeff.” He said. Kaye Leigh shook her head.

“Hey mom!” Josh yelled as he was running towards her.

“Great game kid.” She said smiling at him.

“Really great Josh.” Jon said.

“Thanks, hey mom Dan wants to know if I can stay with him and dad tonight.” Josh asked.

“You can’t keep them from him.” Jon whispered.

“If you want to.” She told him.

“Go have fun.” Jon said. Kaye Leigh could feel the tears coming again. Jon gave her a hug.

“It will get better sis.” He said. Jon put her chair in the truck and hugged her again; Kaye Leigh wiped off her face and said good-bye to Jon.

Jeff was watching her, he could tell that she was crying, but he did not know what Jon was talking to her about.

“Is Kaye Leigh ok?” he asked when Jon came over.

“She’s missing you and the kids more than she cares to admit.” Jon said shaking his head. “She can be extremely hard headed at times.” Everyone laughed.

“I’ve never noticed that.” Jeff said.

“Dad, Josh is coming over, so pick us up at the high school.” Dan said.

“Ok, I’ll be there.” He said.

“I’m surprised she’s letting Josh come over.”

“I’m thinking she wanted to say no, but couldn’t.” Jon said.

Kaye Leigh pulled into her driveway a little over an hour later. She had cried most of the way home so her eyes hurt. When the lights hit the front of the house it looked like her door was wide open. She got out of the truck and started up the steps, she heard a crunching noise under her feet and bent down to see what it was, she grabbed a piece of whatever it was and felt pain in her hand.

“This is ridiculous.” She muttered and reached in the door to turn on the porch light.

Glass was all over the porch, she had cut her hand when she picked up a jagged piece, and it was bleeding all over. She took off her sweatshirt, wrapped it around her hand, and went back to her truck. She climbed inside, locked the doors and dial Jon.

“Kaye Leigh?” Jon said.

“Where are you?” she asked.

“Almost to the high school, what’s wrong?” he asked her voice was shaky.

“Someone broke into the house, the door is wide opened, and the window is smashed.” She said trying not to cry. She told everything that she had done.

“Stay in the truck, I’ll be there in a few minutes. I’m going to get Jeff.” He said.

“You don’t need to do that.” She said.

“Just stay in the truck Kaye Leigh and if you see anyone, get out of there!” he said and hung up.

Jon pulled into the high school parking lot and found Jeff.

“Some one broke into the house, Kaye Leigh is in the truck.” Jon said.

“Let me have someone run the boys to the apartment and I will be right behind you.” Jeff said.

After about ten minutes the guys pulled in, Jon had called the police, they pulled in right behind Jeff.

“Are you ok Kaye Leigh?” Jeff said when she opened the door.

“Yes.” She said. “I cut my hand on some glass though.” Jeff took a hold of her hand and held it under the light from the truck.

“I will take care of that when we can go into the house, keep pressure on it.” He said.

“Can we go in yet?” Kaye Leigh asked an officer.

“We’re making sure no one is in the house, so it will be a few more minutes.” He said. Jeff put his arm around her shoulder.

“Why did you go up to the house?” Jon said.

“I seen the door was open but I didn’t notice the window at all.” She said.

“You should have never gotten out of the truck when you seen that the door was opened.” Jeff said.

“You guys can go in now, there are some officers still working inside so try not to touch anything. We also have men looking around out here and talking to any of the workers that were here at the time.” An officer told them.

Jon went in first; when Kaye Leigh went in, she stopped in her tracks in complete shock. Their house was destroyed; the furniture was cut up, frames where shattered, she was cut out of pictures. This was all meant for her.

She started crying and asked Jon “Who would do this?”

Kaye Leigh left the others and walked around the house by herself; everything was pulled from the cupboards, dishes were broken, chairs at the dinning room table were broken, words were carved into the dinning room table. She went upstairs, she seen that the doors were broken, or off their hinges. Looking in the kids’ room their monitors for their computers were smashed, their beds destroyed, writing on the walls. Kaye Leigh finally made it to their room; she shut her eyes afraid of what she was going to see.

Everything was destroyed; her clothes had been taken out of drawers and the closet. They were ripped and cut up. The shower curtain was cut up, the mirror was smashed. The mattress was cut up, the sheets were destroyed. All of this was beyond Kaye Leigh comprehension.

She sat down at the window seat and cried. Jeff had come upstairs, he took her in his arms, and she let him hold her.

“I’m so sorry Kaye Leigh.” He said.

After a few minutes, he said, “Let me take care of your hand.” She nodded. He grabbed some supplies out of the bathroom and worked on her hand. When he finished Jon had come up and told them that the police wanted to talk to them.

They went downstairs, answered questions for over an hour and finally the police left but told them they could not stay there tonight.

“Kaye Leigh and Becki can stay with me.” Jeff said.

“We can stay at Jon’s.” she said quickly.

“Sorry Kaye Leigh but you can’t everyone is sick with the flu.” Jon said.

“How convenient.” She said. Jon laughed.

“It’s true, why do you think I’m alone tonight? Just go to Jeff’s you know you want too and now you have a ready made excuse.” He said. Kaye Leigh looked at him; he just smiled back at her.

“We’ll start cleaning up tomorrow.” Becki said.

“Let us grab some clothes, if I have anything left.” She said. Kaye Leigh went upstairs to try to find some clothes, she had hardly anything left. She found two pairs of jeans that she could wear, one had a tear in the knee, three shirts, some under garments, but all her sleeping clothes were shredded. She picked up one of her nightgowns and her wedding picture was beneath it smashed.

Kaye Leigh and Becki followed Jeff to his apartment; the boys were already there and had had their showers.

“The boys have the living room, Becki you can have Faith’s room, Kaye Leigh you can have my bed and I will sleep on the floor.” Jeff said.

“Hey mom, Becki what are you doing here?” Dan asked coming to hug them. When it was Kaye Leigh’s turn, she held onto him a little longer, not wanting to let him go, she missed them more than she realized.

“Someone broke into the house, so it’s not safe to stay there tonight.” She said. Dan smelled like soap and Josh’s hair was still wet.

“Wow.” The boys said together.

“We’ll talk about it more in the morning, right now it is extremely late, and everyone needs to go to bed.” Jeff said. He showed Becki her room. He only had one bathroom so they had to take turns.

“Jeff, can I borrow one of your shirts to sleep in?” she asked.

“Sure, let me grab you one.” He said. When she got a shirt she went into the bathroom, changed, washed her face, and tried not to cry some more, Jon was right she wanted to stay with Jeff, but she didn’t want to admit it even to herself. When she finished she went into Jeff‘s bedroom. He was getting pillows and a blanket to sleep on the floor.

“You don’t have to sleep on the floor Jeff.” She said quietly.

“I don’t want to upset you anymore than you already are Kaye Leigh.” He said.

“It’s fine Jeff, please.” She replied.

“If you’re sure.” He said. She nodded and got into bed; he turned off the lights then got into bed next to her. When he looked at her standing, there in his shirt, it astounded him and he longed to take her in his arms.

“Thanks for helping tonight Jeff.” She said.

“I’m always going to be here for you Kaye Leigh no matter what.” He told her.

“This is a little place.” She said.

“Well I was hoping that I wouldn’t be here too long, I’ve got plans for a house being drawn up.” He said. Kaye Leigh felt a lump in her throat.

“I wasn’t sure if you would stay in Texas.” She said.

“You’re having our baby Kaye Leigh, I’m not leaving.” He told her.

“I didn’t mean anything by that Jeff.” She said quickly.

“Ok, I’ll sign the divorce papers this week.” He said. Kaye Leigh did not say anything but rolled onto her side facing away from him.

He knew she was crying even though she was trying to hide it.